BETUL KE WAN AZIZAH????

PERMATANG PAUH, Malaysia (AP) _ The wife of jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim Saturday denied accusations that she had tried to divorce him, describing such charges two days before a general election as ``low and mean.''

Azizah Ismail, who is contesting in her husband's former electoral district, was responding to remarks made by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to reporters during his tour of her constituency earlier Saturday.

Mahathir said he had heard reports of a rift between Anwar and Azizah. ``She confided these things to a person I know very well, but of course she will deny it,'' he said.
``No, I have never sought divorce,'' Azizah told reporters during her final lap of campaigning ahead of Monday's vote.

Azizah, 47, who has been married to Anwar for 19 years, said she found such accusations ``rather low and mean.''

Azizah also denied that Anwar, 52, had ever physically abused her. ``He has never, never beaten me. It is simply sick and mean and very low to say this sort of thing about our marriage.''

Azizah, the mother of their six children, was thrust into the forefront of her husband's political reform campaign following his arrest 18 days after Mahathir sacked him last September.

She heads the National Justice Party, one of the four components of an opposition coalition which is challenging Mahathir's 18-year rule.
Azizah and other opposition leaders have repeatedly accused Mahathir's National Front coalition of launching a campaign to defame opposition candidates.
(jg/rr)



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